BEYOND (B), may 2002

I give it to you; with a cover so tacky you’re better off blind! Luckily the music is good, although you can see with half an eye that the five Dutchmen from Chinawhite seem to have set their mind on a very “natural” recording. By this I mean that there’s been very little compression at sound capture and that the dynamic spectrum resulting from this frivolity is thus very broad. Now that you’ve been warned, don’t be surprised if your speakers explode all at once… Thanks to a fair amount of experience in the field, this band could afford such extravaganza without having it look like a mistake. It’s very true that this choice gives a little extra zest to music not always easily accepted these days. What do you want … with all these Dream Theaters and Pains Of Salvation running around, what to do with Saga-like riffs and jolly choruses reminiscent of the most syrupy of eighties Hard FM? Not a lot… and all this is the inescapable consequence of sad reality… Hey, nevertheless, I like it… because it’s real… Thumbs up for “Breathe Fire” and consecutive “Changes”. Too cool!